I can't believe I'm writing that (Last competition for 2017). So what rabbit hole did I fall down around the middle of the year. Have we had August and September? Perhaps I fell into a coma after drinking a vat of chocolate sauce. It doesn't matter. The point is, December is already puffing along giddily, hurling us towards 2018, and for some reason time is getting away on me. What happened to all those goals and projects? Perhaps I am getting older and perception of time is skewed because of how many millennia I have been alive. It reminds me of last Friday afternoon when I joyously threw myself down a mini-slide in the Margaret Mahy playground in Christchurch. Only 2 days earlier, I had giggled earthwards on a larger and longer slide, there so this was going to be a slide in the park. Only there it was again: the time warp. Before I had even let go of the bar at the top I was down below with a foot wrapped up and under my leg - not sure how it got there and it felt none too pleased about it either. Limping pathetically almost a week later on a black appendage that had doubled in size, I ruefully realised that either I am slowing down (possible) or the world is speeding up (also possible) hence the awkward hiatus between real time and imagined time and how things can go woefully wrong. So here we are, nearly at the end of 2017, somehow.After 8 long years, my book is out, it has been reviewed by very kind people who have chosen not to broadcast (or simply not seen) the faults that I can see between the pages. I have badgered and bullied people into buying it. We have managed to hold several competitions which I am glad to say seem to have delighted those who took part. Already I have bought stock for prizes for next year, so please keep tuned. There is plenty planned and of course we are all looking forward to hearing more definite news about the re-opening of the Town Hall. If you do not already get our Pipeline Press newsletter, sign up now - this is where I will tell you about competitions, discounts and snippets of news. Tell others to join! Oh, and the last competition? Yes - go here for the details and to enter. But hurry as it finishes in a couple of days. A real quickie. Although you MAY think it will finish in a couple of weeks. ​Watch out for that time thief...